Editing Botany (section)

{{Short description|Study of plant life}}
{{redirect-several|dab=no|Botany (disambiguation)|Botanic (disambiguation)|Botanist (disambiguation)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2016}}

[[File:Myris fragr Fr 080112-3294 ltn.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=Image of ripe nutmeg fruit split open to show red aril|The fruit of ''[[Myristica fragrans]]'', a species native to [[Indonesia]], is the source of two valuable spices, the red aril ([[mace (spice)|mace]]) enclosing the dark brown [[nutmeg]].]]
{{TopicTOC-Biology}}
'''Botany''', also called '''plant science''', is the branch of [[natural science]] and [[biology]] studying [[plants]], especially [[Plant anatomy|their anatomy]], [[Plant taxonomy|taxonomy]], and [[Plant ecology|ecology]].<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', s.v. “[https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3982157073 botany (n.), sense 1.a],” September 2024, "''The branch of science concerned with the study of plants, esp. as observed in the field, and in their taxonomic, morphological, anatomical, and ecological aspects''."</ref> A '''botanist''' or '''plant scientist''' is a [[scientist]] who specialises in this field. "[[Plant]]" and "botany" may be defined more narrowly to include only [[land plants]] and their study, which is also known as '''phytology'''. Phytologists or botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 [[species]] of [[Embryophyte|land plants]], including some 391,000 species of [[vascular plant]]s (of which approximately 369,000 are [[flowering plant]]s){{sfn|RGB Kew|2016}} and approximately 20,000 [[bryophyte]]s.{{sfn|The Plant List||2013}}

Botany originated as [[history of herbalism#Prehistory|prehistoric herbalism]] to identify and later cultivate plants that were edible, poisonous, and medicinal, making it one of the first endeavours of human investigation.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} Medieval [[physic garden]]s, often attached to [[Monastery|monasteries]], contained plants possibly having medicinal benefit. They were forerunners of the first [[botanical garden]]s attached to [[University|universities]], founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the [[Orto botanico di Padova|Padua botanical garden]]. These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of [[plant taxonomy]] and led in 1753 to the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial system of nomenclature]] of [[Carl Linnaeus]] that remains in use to this day for the naming of all biological species.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, new techniques were developed for the study of plants, including methods of [[optical microscope|optical microscopy]] and [[live cell imaging]], [[electron microscopy]], analysis of [[ploidy|chromosome number]], [[phytochemistry|plant chemistry]] and the structure and function of [[enzyme]]s and other [[protein]]s. In the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of [[molecular biology|molecular genetic analysis]], including [[genomics]] and [[proteomics]] and [[DNA sequences]] to classify plants more accurately.

Modern botany is a broad subject with contributions and insights from most other areas of science and technology. Research topics include the study of plant [[Plant morphology|structure]], [[cell growth|growth]] and differentiation, [[Plant reproduction|reproduction]], [[plant physiology#Biochemistry of plants|biochemistry]] and [[metabolism|primary metabolism]], chemical products, [[Plant morphology#Morphology in development|development]], [[plant pathology|diseases]], [[phylogenetics|evolutionary relationships]], [[systematics]], and [[Taxonomy (biology)|plant taxonomy]]. Dominant themes in 21st-century plant science are [[molecular genetics]] and [[epigenetics]], which study the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of [[plant cell]]s and [[Tissue (biology)#Plant tissue|tissues]]. Botanical research has diverse applications in providing [[staple foods]], materials such as [[Lumber|timber]], [[oil]], rubber, [[Fiber|fibre]] and drugs, in modern [[horticulture]], [[agriculture]] and [[forestry]], [[plant propagation]], [[Plant breeding|breeding]] and [[genetic modification]], in the synthesis of chemicals and raw materials for construction and energy production, in [[environmental management]], and the maintenance of [[biodiversity]].